Phone spoofed

[easysurfer]

Ever since I got an accept list based call blocker device for my landline, I wouldn't want to go without one again. I used to get on average about 6 calls a day from telemarketers. Now, I've noticed a decrease to maybe 1 or 2. With my blocker, a call still rings once before the blocker takes over and either hangs up if on my reject list or gives a recording (which I don't hear) telling the telemarketer to buzz off .

 

[Texas Proud]

The spoofers know most people would ignore a call from an unknown ID but don't want their real number showing up (probably overseas) which most of us would block immediate ately. They don't want to be called back, they just want their robo calls showing the spoofed number to continue so they can reach the tiny percentage of vulnerable targets to fall into their trap (recently in my town the police reported someone sent $16,000 in a internet scam, and another person sent more than $1,000 to pay for (bogus) shipping of a free puppy another scammer promised).

I would hope there are good guys writing a program that would protect against spoofing but the bad guys would probably be one step ahead of them anyway.

But this is not like that... they are not using my number to try and sell anything... I have actually talked to two of the people and their phone rang one time and then hung up... so they call ME back asking why I am calling them....

I agree that if they are trying to scam people out of money all it takes is a few people to respond.... I just do not get what they get out of this...


So far today got 6 phone messages before pulling the plug and 11 since...


I just do not understand why people will return a call from someone they do not know...

 

[Bestwifeever]

That one ring and hang-up is weird, TP--I forgot you mentioned that. Perhaps the hackers are running tests using spoofed numbers to perfect their work for further nefarious endeavors.

Hopefully their use of your number is only temporary and you won't feel the need to give it up.

 

[braumeister]

I just do not get what they get out of this

My guess is that they are simply building a database of real live phone numbers they can then sell to other telemarketers.

Anyway, FWIW:
I was beside myself with all the spam/spoofed/junk phone calls, so I dropped the landline a couple of years ago and switched to Ooma. Instantly the number of false calls dropped by 90%.

Then about a year ago, Ooma hooked up with Nomorobo, and since then I have received LESS than one bad call per month. So delightful.

The hassle of notifying all my friends of my new home phone number was ridiculously tiny compared to the benefits of making the switch.

There is one downside: During an extended power outage, you obviously can't make or receive calls with Ooma. But frequently the cell towers will still be operating so you can use your mobile phone.

 

[GrayHare]

I just do not understand why people will return a call from someone they do not know...

Because the scammer left a message saying he has good news about that contest they entered some time back. Instead of calling the number the scammer recites (which the recipient may have previously blocked), the recipient simply hits "return call" which goes to the spoofed number (yours).

 

[Lsbcal]

The last few days we've gotten 2 calls from an outside area code and it only rang twice. So I just blocked it and got another call last night. The Panasonic unit just let's you know with one ring then disconnects. Hope I didn't block someone who I needed to hear from -- always have a niggling concern there, oh well.

 

[Walt34]

Hope I didn't block someone who I needed to hear from -- always have a niggling concern there, oh well.

If it's important enough, they'll eventually write a letter.

 

[Lsbcal]

If it's important enough, they'll eventually write a letter.

I'm trying to remember when I last got a handwritten letter.

 

[Walt34]

I'm trying to remember when I last got a handwritten letter.

I think the last time I wrote one was in the mid or late 1990's. The water co. had been relining the pipes and we had greatly diminished water flow afterward. They're generally pretty good about responsiveness and I'd left several messages on the contact guy's phone but got no response so I resorted to writing a letter, figuring they're harder to ignore, and he called back in a few days when he got the letter.

He first apologized profusely, and said the letter was the first indication he had that his voicemail system had a malfunction in that it would take messages but not let him know they were there. I'm inclined to believe him.

 

[LOL!]

In the old days before cell phones, one could set their phone to do automatic call forwarding. So if you dialed their number your call was forwarded automatically to the number they had put in. The hitch was that the person calling had no idea that you had forwarded your number to another phone.

This led to the following for me: I was renting a home and moved out quickly but did not have time to get phone service switched. The landlord moved into the previously rented home and noticed the phone worked, so she had her number forwarded to my number. Her friends, family, and renters called her old number and were forwarded to my number. She just picked up the phone in my old place and talked to everybody. Until …

… until a couple days later the phone company switched my number to my new place. From that point on, I got all her calls which were still being forwarded to my number. It was quite amusing because I would tell folks they had the wrong number.
What number did you dial?
I dialed 414-2312.
Well, that's not this number.
Yes, it is. I didn't make a mistake dialing. Don't you tell me I don't know how to dial.
Nevertheless, Cindy is not here and has never been here.
I talked to her yesterday by calling this number. You are so full of it.

I figured out what she had done, but I could not call her because I always got a busy signal because her number was forwarded to the phone I was calling from. So I call the phone company. The customer service person was pretty dim-witted and said, "OK, I'll call her number." I replied, it will be busy because I am talking to you now. She dialed anyways and said, "She must be talking on the phone because it's busy."

A day later the ex-landlord turned off call forwarding herself. But I had made her mother pretty mad at me as well as some of her other tenants before she cancelled the call forwarding.

So I'm wondering if something like this happened where someone set forwarding but mis-entered the number and it's going to TexasProud.

 

[Cobra9777]

...Hope it is not a new number... I have had this one for over 30 years...

Also, I got a call from the "IRS" this morning .... saying that they were going to file a lawsuit against me etc. etc.... I wonder if there is any connection between these two scams....

I suspect you pissed off the "IRS" scammers and this is your payback. My advice: ditch the 30-year-old landline number. Too many scammers, telemarketers, and pollsters have it in their database. And ditch Comcast phone/TV while you're at it. Keep internet only. Give your landline phones a fresh new number with Obi+GV for free. Give the new number to family and friends only. Never use it on a website. We had the same landline number from 1981 through 2013. Starting fresh is good for the soul.

 

[redduck]

...An earlier poster mentioned the scam IRS calls. I got one of those, it is just unfathomable to me that anyone would be naive enough to not know that is a scam. How do these people get through life?
-ERD50

Just barely. (Do not ask me how I know this).

 

[Texas Proud]

Because the scammer left a message saying he has good news about that contest they entered some time back. Instead of calling the number the scammer recites (which the recipient may have previously blocked), the recipient simply hits "return call" which goes to the spoofed number (yours).

I have talked to a few of the people... NO message is being given... it is a ring to them and a hang up... so I know they are not trying to sell them anything...

 

[Texas Proud]

In the old days before cell phones, one could set their phone to do automatic call forwarding. So if you dialed their number your call was forwarded automatically to the number they had put in. The hitch was that the person calling had no idea that you had forwarded your number to another phone.

This led to the following for me: I was renting a home and moved out quickly but did not have time to get phone service switched. The landlord moved into the previously rented home and noticed the phone worked, so she had her number forwarded to my number. Her friends, family, and renters called her old number and were forwarded to my number. She just picked up the phone in my old place and talked to everybody. Until …

… until a couple days later the phone company switched my number to my new place. From that point on, I got all her calls which were still being forwarded to my number. It was quite amusing because I would tell folks they had the wrong number.
What number did you dial?
I dialed 414-2312.
Well, that's not this number.
Yes, it is. I didn't make a mistake dialing. Don't you tell me I don't know how to dial.
Nevertheless, Cindy is not here and has never been here.
I talked to her yesterday by calling this number. You are so full of it.

I figured out what she had done, but I could not call her because I always got a busy signal because her number was forwarded to the phone I was calling from. So I call the phone company. The customer service person was pretty dim-witted and said, "OK, I'll call her number." I replied, it will be busy because I am talking to you now. She dialed anyways and said, "She must be talking on the phone because it's busy."

A day later the ex-landlord turned off call forwarding herself. But I had made her mother pretty mad at me as well as some of her other tenants before she cancelled the call forwarding.

So I'm wondering if something like this happened where someone set forwarding but mis-entered the number and it's going to TexasProud.

LOL... reminds me when this feature first came out.... long before cell phones... I had a friend who was 'on call' often... so he paid the big money to have this feature... had forwarded his number to mine since he was coming over to watch a game... but after he left he forgot to turn it off... I would get his calls and was pretty pissed when I got calls in the middle of the night asking 'me' to come to work... same kinda conversation with 'what number did you dial' etc....

The worst part is that AT&T could (or would) not turn this feature off... his phone worked just fine when he called out, but all his incoming came to me.... it was a week before someone at his work told him to fix the problem....